Freyberg's
War: The Man, the Legend, and RealityPenguin,
Auckland, 2005

"If anyone is best equipped to pen a
definitive study of one of, if not the,
greatest military leader in New
Zealand's history, it would be Matthew
Wright".
- Mark Taylor, The Southland Times,
20 April 2005.

"This book shows scholarship,
objectivity and humanity...[it] should
become a standard work in New Zealand
military circles"
- Neil Frances, Wairarapa Times-Age,
14 April 2005.

"...a painstaking and complete war
biography of New Zealand's most famous
soldier"
- Greg Dixon, Weekend Herald,
Canvas, 16 April 2005.

"Matthew Wright attempts to give a
fuller picture of the man who led New
Zealand troops...He succeeds. It is a
monumental work."
- Warwick Roger, North and South,
May 2005.

"This is an important book for the
record. In it, Wright has effectively
silenced the doubts about one of New
Zealand's greatest".
- Jim Callaghan, Wanganui Chronicle,
2 July 2005.

This book will change the way you see
one of New Zealand's best known historic
figures. Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard
Freyberg led the New Zealand
Expeditionary Force from 1939 to 1945.
He became a national hero, exalted by a
generation and upheld as one who could
do no wrong. Some historians have
challenged that view, finding fault in
Freyberg's handling of the Battle for
Crete and blaming him for the
destruction of the Benedictine monastery
above Cassino in 1944. But are they
right? In Freyberg's War, Matthew Wright
draws on a wide range of documents,
including British and New Zealand
letters published for the first time in
this book, to look at Freyberg's war
from Freyberg's own perspective, and so
cast new light on some of the crucial
questions about Freyberg's War. Who was
really behind Freyberg's appointment to
command in 1939? What can we say about
his performance on Crete in 1941? What
did he intend in Cassino? What did
Middle East Command really think of him?
Wright paints a scholarly, vivid picture
of man and commander, revealing Freyberg
to be a complex, multi-dimensional
leader whose approach to the war has
been misunderstood.